Three man chess game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A chess game for three players which includes a game board of generally triangular form, the corners of the triangle being omitted, the board having one hundred and eight contiguous, hexagonal playing spaces of three alternating colors, and said game including three sets of chess pieces, each set including conventional chess pieces with an additional pawn in each set. The playing spaces are distributed uniformly, with the exception that there is a row of five spaces at each corner of the triangle.

Unite States Patent mi Adams et al. Sept. 17, 1974 [5 THREE MAN CHESS GAME APPARATUS 3,744,797 7/1973 Hopkins 273/131 AB [76] Inventors: Kevin L. Adams, 127 Reese Ave.;

Ronald wri 126 Reese Ava, Przmary Examiner Delbert B. Lowe both of Lama r 17602 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-James J. Kennedy [22] Filed: May 24, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT PP N05 363,647 A chess game for three players which includes a game board of generally tria ar form, the comers of the 52 us CL 273 131 AB, 27 p 131 L, triangle being omitted, board having one hundred 2 31 KN and eight contiguous, hexagonal playing spaces of [51] Int. Cl. A63f 3/02 three alternating Colors and Said game including three [58] Field of Search 273 131 Sets of chess Pieces, each Set including conventional chess pieces with an additional pawn in each set. The 5 References Cited playing es are distributed unifor with the ex- UNITED STATES PATENTS cep there is a row of five sp at each corh t l 1,339,013 20 ett 131 AB net e Hang e 3,724,856 73 131 AB 1 Claim,.3 Drawing Figures THREE MAN CHESS GAME APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The game of chess, a game of pure skill traditionally played by two players, has undergone a considerable amount of refinement over the ages that it has been played. In all this time, however, the game has never been successfully enlarged so that more than two players could play at the same game board at the same time.

There have been those who have attempted to come up with a chess game which could accommodate at least three players. These types of games, however, require a great deal of deviation from the traditional concepts, rules and playing strategies of conventional chess inasmuch as the game boards are divided into playing zones with playing spaces within the zones and the playing pieces vary greatly from the traditional sixteen chess pieces.

It is therefore the primary object of this invention to provide a chess game that can be played by three players using game strategies which are as close as possible to the more traditional two player games.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple board which does not rely on playing zones.

A further object of the invention is to provide game pieces which are similar to traditional chess pieces, except for the addition of an extra pawn for each player.

These and other objects will become more apparent from the description set forth hereinafter and by reference to the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of the game board of the invention showing the alignment in the starting position for one players game pieces which is typical for the other players as well.

FIG. 2 is a detail view showing possible movement of the rook.

FIG. 3 is a detail view showing possible movement of the knight.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring generally to the drawings, the game board of the present invention is designated by numeral 10. The board is a generally truncated, triangular shaped playing surface, having back lines 12, 14 and 16, as shown. Each of the back lines forms one of the starting lines for each of the three players. The board 10 sides are shown at 13, 15 and 17, respectively.

The playing surface of board 10 is comprised of a plurality (108) contiguous hexagonal playing spaces of three alternating colors such as white 18, red and black 22. The colors chosen here are for the purposes of illustration and have no bearing on how the game is played. It is understood, however, that three separate colors must be chosen and are so distributed over the surface of the board 10 as to yield an equal number of each color. It should also be understood that the arskilled in the art that the starting position of the two remaining players will be generally the same, with each of the remaining players beginning with their respective back lines 14 and 16, respectively.

In the extreme back line the game pieces are arranged in order from top to bottom with a bishop (B), rook (R), queen (Q), king (K), rook and bishop. In the next line inward of the back line 12, again in order from top to bottom, are a pawn (P), knight (KT), pawn, knight and pawn. Finally, in the third line, the line furthest inward of back line 12, there is an entire line of pawns. Those familiar with conventional chess will realize at once that in the present invention 17 game pieces are used instead of 16. The only difference in game pieces between conventional chess and the present invention is the addition of an extra pawn, using a total of nine pawns instead of eight.

As with conventional chess, the primary objective of the game is having a single winner. Initially each of the players are playing against each other until one player is eliminated by Checkmate. Once the first player is eliminated, the remaining two players play against each other. There are no restrictions as to movement about the board except to the extent to be described hereinafter.

The king is permitted to move about the board in the same manner as it would in conventional chess.

The queen begins play to the right of the king on its own color and then may move anywhere on the board in any direction as long as its path is not blocked by another game piece. When another piece is encountered, further movement is prevented until the players next turn.

In the present invention, a straight line move is a move by a game piece from one hexagonal playing space through a side and at to the side. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, a straight line might be a move from 20a through 22a to 18a. Or, the straight line move might be a move from space to space along a line parallel to the back lines 12, 14 and 16.

A diagonal movement according to the present invention is a move by a game piece between any spaces on the board of the same color. Such a movement might be characterized as a move from 20b to 20c or beyond, if permissible.

A rook, then, according to the present invention, may move only on a straight line in any direction without restriction as to color. The suggested movement can be more readily shown by the arrows in FIG. 2.

A bishop, as in conventional two man chess, is restricted to movement only on its own color on the diagonal. Therefore, a bishop might move as illustrated in FIG. 3.

The knight, again as in conventional chess, is restricted to movement to two spaces in a straight line and then one space toward a space at either or 240 to the direction in which it was moving, landing in its terminal position. The knight must capture another players game piece at only the terminal position. The knights movement may be more readily understood in the reference shown in FIG. 3.

A pawn has an optional movement on the first move only. The pawn can move on a straight line for either one or two spaces in a forward direction, or, if there is another game piece to be captured on a diagonal, it can move on the diagonal one space. A pawn can never move backward or to the side. Once the opening movement by the pawn is completed, it can only move one space at a time in a forward direction.

As has been stated hereinbefore, the objective of the game is to have a single winner. When the three original players begin play and one of the players cannot make a safe move, i.e., one in which the king will not be captured, then this situation is considered a checkmate and the player so affected must remove himself and his remaining game pieces from the board. The play then continues between the two remaining players as in conventional chess until there is a winner or a stalemate. As in conventional chess the 25 move rule would apply. The three man chess game has an advantage over the conventional chess game inasmuch as the weaker player may ally himself with a stronger player against the third player.

While this invention has been described in connection with a single embodiment thereof, it will be understood that the embodiment is capable of modification and that this application is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptations following, in general, the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within the known or customary practice in the art to which the invention pertains, and as fall within the scope of the invention or the limits of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A chess game apparatus for three players comprising a game board having the peripheral configuration shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, and having on its surface a three-indicia playing pattern as shown in said FIG. 1, and three visually distinguishable sets of chess pieces, each set comprising conventional pieces including two knights, two bishops, two rooks, a queen, a king and nine pawns. 

1. A chess game apparatus for three players comprising a game board having the peripheral configuration shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, and having on its surface a three-indicia playing pattern as shown in said FIG. 1, and three visually distinguishable sets of chess pieces, each set comprising conventional pieces including two knights, two bishops, two rooks, a queen, a king and nine pawns. 